I posted a while ago about a book I'm reading - The SimPol Solution. I'm nearing the end, but slowly, as I'm currently reading 4 books and slipping in and out of each in turn.
Here is a reproduction of the benefits of a new, co-operative social order where national governments enact legislation simultaneously to combat the problems of what the book calls destructive global capitalism - the seemingly inexorable pursuit of growth, subservience to The Market and the consequences of chasing the unrestrained free movement of global capital to the detriment of people and the planet:
Here is a reproduction of the benefits of a new, co-operative social order where national governments enact legislation simultaneously to combat the problems of what the book calls destructive global capitalism - the seemingly inexorable pursuit of growth, subservience to The Market and the consequences of chasing the unrestrained free movement of global capital to the detriment of people and the planet:
Throughout this book we’ve been arguing that the current model of competition has reached
its limit and only global cooperation can overcome the hold that destructive global competition
(DGC) has over us. Only global cooperation can deliver a reasonably just and sustainable world.
But if DGC’s vicious circle were to be broken, what would global cooperation actually look like
and what would it be able to deliver?
As we enter what Einstein might have called this book’s final five minutes, we consider two issues: first, the potential benefits of global cooperation and, second, the criteria that a transformative programme of worldcentric political action would have to meet in order to achieve it. Let us start with the potential benefits.
Here we propose ten concrete benefits that a more responsive form of global governance could bring to our world.
1. Global warming could be brought within sustainable limits and the global commons adequately protected for the future.
2. Multinational corporations, the financial sector and the rich could be more fairly taxed and regulated, so reducing inequality and restoring national public finances to health.
3. The global financial system could be reformed to serve the needs of the real economy rather than the economy serving the financial system.
4. Global governance, if designed cooperatively and appropriately, could reduce intercultural and international tensions, reduce inequality and migration and so substantially remove the causes of terrorism.
5. Just as cooperation in Europe has today made war between EU states unthinkable, the same would become more likely on a global platform, reducing the risk of large-scale conflicts.
6. Consequently military spending could be dramatically reduced. releasing enormous sums for health, education and development in developing countries. This, in turn, could help curb population growth so gradually bringing it back into balance.
7. Global governance could ensure that the full environmental impact of goods and services was properly reflected in their cost. Externalities, as economists call these impacts, would thus be internalized.
8. Wealth could be redistributed more equitably across national borders on a debt-free basis, so supporting good governance and stronger economies in the most deprived nations.3 This would allow people to make a decent living in their home countries, dramatically reducing economic migration and associated intercultural tensions.
9. Following a graduated approach that takes the particular needs of poorer countries into account, much higher environmental, social and governmental standards could be implemented worldwide.
10. Global governance would enable the localization of economies and cultures everywhere. For example, global taxes could be raised in ways that make long-distance transportation much more expensive and thus favour local production and consumption. Since such a tax would be applied globally, no one’s competitiveness would suffer.
These benefits are largely the benefits of scale. Strangely enough, they have in principle much in common with those that societies in the late Middle Ages started to enjoy once they stopped competing and fighting with one another and transformed their small states into larger nation states. Because together they were safer and stronger; together they were more prosperous; together they were greater than the sum of their parts. The same goes for humanity today as we find ourselves facing the transition to global cooperation.
I'm presently on the 'how' of implementation, and it's not as fraught as one would at first assume, although the main enemy is nationalism, which seems to be on the rise.
As we enter what Einstein might have called this book’s final five minutes, we consider two issues: first, the potential benefits of global cooperation and, second, the criteria that a transformative programme of worldcentric political action would have to meet in order to achieve it. Let us start with the potential benefits.
Here we propose ten concrete benefits that a more responsive form of global governance could bring to our world.
1. Global warming could be brought within sustainable limits and the global commons adequately protected for the future.
2. Multinational corporations, the financial sector and the rich could be more fairly taxed and regulated, so reducing inequality and restoring national public finances to health.
3. The global financial system could be reformed to serve the needs of the real economy rather than the economy serving the financial system.
4. Global governance, if designed cooperatively and appropriately, could reduce intercultural and international tensions, reduce inequality and migration and so substantially remove the causes of terrorism.
5. Just as cooperation in Europe has today made war between EU states unthinkable, the same would become more likely on a global platform, reducing the risk of large-scale conflicts.
6. Consequently military spending could be dramatically reduced. releasing enormous sums for health, education and development in developing countries. This, in turn, could help curb population growth so gradually bringing it back into balance.
7. Global governance could ensure that the full environmental impact of goods and services was properly reflected in their cost. Externalities, as economists call these impacts, would thus be internalized.
8. Wealth could be redistributed more equitably across national borders on a debt-free basis, so supporting good governance and stronger economies in the most deprived nations.3 This would allow people to make a decent living in their home countries, dramatically reducing economic migration and associated intercultural tensions.
9. Following a graduated approach that takes the particular needs of poorer countries into account, much higher environmental, social and governmental standards could be implemented worldwide.
10. Global governance would enable the localization of economies and cultures everywhere. For example, global taxes could be raised in ways that make long-distance transportation much more expensive and thus favour local production and consumption. Since such a tax would be applied globally, no one’s competitiveness would suffer.
These benefits are largely the benefits of scale. Strangely enough, they have in principle much in common with those that societies in the late Middle Ages started to enjoy once they stopped competing and fighting with one another and transformed their small states into larger nation states. Because together they were safer and stronger; together they were more prosperous; together they were greater than the sum of their parts. The same goes for humanity today as we find ourselves facing the transition to global cooperation.
I'm presently on the 'how' of implementation, and it's not as fraught as one would at first assume, although the main enemy is nationalism, which seems to be on the rise.
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